Note : Recorded and mixed at Stockholm 2000-2001.
Original recordings made in the USA, Canada, UK and Sweden.
This is the fourth, and the most peaceful and beautiful release to date, by Hazard (aka Benny Jonas Nilsen). The artist's intent was to record an album that would blend technology with nature. He had already recorded some weather sounds in Canada, the U.S.A., and Sweden, but lacked the professional equipment necessary to capture raw wind in all its glory. He turned to Chris Watson (of the Touch label), who had just prepared a radio program about wind for the BBC. Using Watson's unaltered recordings, his own weather tapes (thunderstorms, wind in branches, etc.), and delicate electronic floorings, he created eight pieces. Wind deserves to be listened to attentively with headphones, otherwise the music will go by unnoticed. Each track develops an environment where the distinction between the natural and the artificial often becomes irrelevant. A faint pulse may occasionally arise, but it is not imposed as an alternative to nature's chaotic order. "Stream" unfolds cinematically through a succession of sound layers. A storm is preparing to strike in "Village": the listener can feel the tension and the pressure. During "Anemo," the longest track at 12 minutes, time simply stands still. The experimental electronica crowd will probably think this Hazard project lacks glitches and laptop tricks. Others will find in Wind a mind-expanding listening and meditative experience. Recommended. (François Couture, All Music Guide)

01. The Magic of Christmas
02. Snowflakes and Frozen Lakes
03. Under the Tree
04. Deck the Halls
05. An Old Fashioned Christmas
06. Somedays Are More Important
07. Friends Again
08. We Wish You a Merry Christmas

01. Merry Christmas, Baby
02. Santa Baby
03. Santa Come up and See Me
04. Put the Loot in the Boot, Santa
05. Santa Claus Is Back in Town
06. My New Year's Resolution
07. Santa Bring my Baby Back to Me
08. Wiith Love from Me to You

Ce qu'en disait le label :
A new album by Michael Prime who is another prolific sound composer for many years. Being an active member of Morphogenesis he also collaborated with among others: David Jackman/Organum, Jim O'Rourke, Eddie Prevost, David Toop, Adam Bohman. He's also one half of Negative Entropy a collaborational project with G. Feyton (Noise Makers Five). Recorded between December 1998 and December 2000 Requiem is one of his most intense works so far and quite different from his more inviromental studies. Dedicated to M, H and LL.

Ce qu'en disait le label :
S.ink is a musicians' collective, whose members make music through communicative interaction and freeform improvisation. Thus, the music of this first album is essentially a careful selection of many hours worth of improvisation.
Time and Timing captures a specific period in the band's course and its respective moods. And that is why the album was chosen to be recorded live in the band's own studio. Of course, S.ink's skillful and tight performance does not let us realise immediately that this is the final outcome of a live (and not multitrack or step-by-step and processed) recording. For this reason their live performances have always been considered exciting, special and unique.
S.ink act within an uneasily defined musical environment, but which contains significant references to various musical styles that marked the evolution of contemporary music: at times, it incorporates the intellectualism and exploratory mood of kraut rock, the jazzy moods of the Chicago scene, the solitary feeling of ambient music, the psychedelic nuances of 'cosmic' music, the melancholic and dark atmosphere of post rock.

Note : 'Zebra Knights' was released under the name 'Save New York' on 10 september 2001, the day before 9/11. The record was then withdrawn from the marked and released under the name 'Zebra Knights' in 2002 and came with a new tracklisting.

Note : Limited to 2000 copies worldwide, 1000 copies on black vinyl in the US, 500 copies on colored vinyl in Europe, and the final 500 copies on clear vinyl, to be sold in a boxed set once the series of Vinyl Films 10" releases is completed.
Track A1 differs from the version that appears on the full-length release Drums And Guns.
Track A2 differs from the version that appears on the full-length release The Great Destroyer.

Note : In the early morning of September 16th 2006 I rapidly left the country house where I was staying to finish the production of Paramount. It was the culmination of several months work.
I began outlining the album in the fall of 2005 with the objective of describing society and the present while still trying to anchor it to something timeless and continuous that could be linked to any one period in time. Based on a linear schedule of events I then stipulated rules and guidelines for my musical process.
The following months were cursed with severe computer breakdowns which delayed the development of my musical tools. Meanwhile I started working with DAT and devoted the remainder of that spring to work my way through the massive checklist of sound components based on my schedule of events.
In May, I got stuck once again and to be able to continue I was forced to erase large parts of my project that was decelerating the work flow. I abandoned my notes and started working more freely and rapidly along a rough initial topographic sketch, and at the end of the summer the music was almost complete – one comprehensive 30 minute piece.
Early that fall I went out to the countryside to put the final touches to the album. As it turned out, the house where I was staying was haunted, and the spiritual activity increased as the work progressed. Footsteps, doors that suddenly opened, traces of EVP in my recordings and an overall intensed atmosphear affected my appearance in the house. After two weeks I couldn't take it anymore and felt I was about to lose my mind. I packed my equipment and fled. The album was finally finished in Malmoe shortly thereafter, as far as I know without any interference from the spiritual world.
- Andreas Bertilsson, February 2007.

The Montgolfier Brothers
The World Is Flat
CD Poptones mc5057cd (UK, 07-2002)

01. 2.55 Newbury
02. The Understudy
03. Be Selfish
04. The World Is Flat
05. The Second Takes Forever
06. Swings and Roundabouts
07. Dream in Organza
08. I Couldn't Sleep, Either
09. Think Once More
10. Inches Away

Note : Words and music written and recorded by Roger Quigley and Mark Tranmer.
Revered instrumentalist Mark Turner and vocalist Roger Quigley have worked together in the past, as well as putting together strong efforts on several artistic solo projects. This excursion, entitled The World is Flat is a beautiful concept album, complete with spirally guitars, a little touch of piano spice, and lush string and orchestral arrangements. A dreamy, ethereal piece of art, this album is indebted to the producer for bringing to the listener the state of the art sound we hear from this duet who hail themselves The Montgolfier Brothers. Here you will fine a stunning plethora of musical textures, colors, beats, rhythms, and sounds, which can and will keep you interested many times over. With sweeping beats, spontaneous frameworks, and electric chord progressions, this savvy duo provides true flair, revealing themselves as a feel-good, exuberant pair destined to take on their local music world in future gigs.

Note : Ashtray Boy is two indie-pop bands in one: the first existed in Chicago, the other — simultaneously — in Sydney, Australia. Both were led by vocalist Randall Lee, formerly of the Cannanes and Nice; after the latter's 1993 demise, Lee began splitting his time between his native Australia and the U.S., and the first Ashtray Boy line-up formed was the American version, rounded out by future Pulsars member Dave Trumfio and drummer Justin Niimi. Their 1993 full-length The Honeymoon Suite (featuring backing vocals from Liz Phair) was the first release issued under the name, while 1994's Macho Champions featured material from the Chicago unit as well as the Sydney group, which also featured bassist Thomas Tallis and drummer Neil Johnston. Candypants Beach, issued the following year, and 1996's The Everyman's 4th Dimension were also joint ventures from both Ashtray Boy rosters. In 2002, Lee left Australia for Vancouver B.C., where he set about putting together a Canadian line-up as well.
Lee's first Ashtray Boy album, unlike the rest, consisted of one band in one place, namely the Chicago lineup of himself, Niimi and Trumfio. Interestingly, one other member helped out throughout Suite, namely not-yet-famous Liz Phair, a year away from her own solo breakthrough. Together the foursome whipped up a gentle delight that set the tone for future Ashtray Boy efforts, fine if not distinctly unique indie rock that avoided hyperpreciousness thanks to Lee's low-pitched speak-singing and often humorous outlook on love and life. Though sometimes the lyrics aren't the easiest to decipher, all that usually matters is the general vibe, and when things do come clear, it's often pure delight. A good example is the semi-waltz-time "Shirley Maclaine," when in the chorus Lee and Phair sing "Turning on or just tuning out, in a past life we were brussel sprouts." Anything but a novelty song, it's just winsome and fun enough on both hands to work and work well. The album isn't just about clever lyrics, though — when the group stretches out on the lovely coda to "Observatory Hill," Lee's gently mournful guitar work and the rhythm section's soft propulsion combine beautifully. Niimi's drumming is actually one of the underrated points of Ashtray Boy; he's not afraid to get in some harder pounding when needed. It's not stomping Zeppelin bombast or the like, but on numbers like "How Charles Destroyed the Inland Sea," he definitely adds a solid groove where other bands would be more polite. On "Hit," he and Trumfio even kick up a fine R&B/funk snarl. Phair gets in some solo moments to shine, as when she dresses down a creepy if not abusive suitor in "Infidel." Ending with the nice instrumental title track, with some piano as well as everything else, Suite is a fine starting point.

Note : E Jugend is a susidiary of German experimentalists Ma Chérie For Painting and Baja and thus the concentrate of something particularly heavy (without being heavy metal).
Erratic. Sucking material without growing into a constant state. "Do you think they thought we knackered them?" Maybe then, at the Technical University festival (including beermug throwing) in times of experienced change of climate. Just like walking barefoot on hot concrete. With a wide grin. Tap-dancin´ on carribean instruments. And in one moment it all dissolves into - nothingness.
Stravinsky, Steve Reich, Sonic Youth, Gas, Godard. Quasi Rubber Soul without Exile On Main Street as basic to do music together. One-take. Or rather: live. Inbetween two acoustic guitars and laptop (featuring strawberry cake in springtime) on the one hand and successful battles of material while supporting 5-piece-bands on the other.
"These are people that, for sure, don´t live behind the woods."
"e jugend reminds me of cooking sessions"
"They sound like Pink Floyd after having played for three hours."
Music like a colliding accident. Field recording disposal this time from Dominican Republic via Kuala Lumpur, Venice, Pula, Stuttgart. Since 1998 e jugend have been no.5 and no.9. Happy to be here. As simple as that.

Note : Recovered by Armistead B. Smith IV & Rob Crow.
Black Friday Record Store Day — November 25th, 2011.
Part two of a trilogy of RSD-branded vinyl EPs, packaged in a brown screen-printed evidence bag containing full-color artwork and inserts. Sealed with custom printed Pinback/Record Store Day evidence tape. Pressing limited to 1,700 copies in the US and 200 internationally.
CLOAD "Q" ends with a locked groove, but there is a third, untitled track after it which can be played by manually dropping the needle past the locked groove.

Note : First half of a 4 track material recorded in the end of 2006.
A 7" vinyl release that exceeds the limits of the common industrial/drone pattern. Build with tons of artificial sounds, this ep is based on multiple use of distortion effect. Noise fluctuations vs background soundscapes. It's been created in search of the point where harsh music is starting to sound deep and melancholic - 15 mins of true industrial meditation.

Note : After the country-inflected minimalism of The Thicket, David Grubbs -- evidently "wanting to be taken seriously as an avant-garde man," to quote his former partner in Gastr del Sol, Jim O'Rourke -- teams up with French musicians from Noël Akchoté and Quentin Rollet's Rectangle label. The title track is a 17-minute setting of Stephen Crane's short story The Blue Hotel (which Grubbs sketched out while waiting for his plane to Paris). One wonders whether he could have made better use of the phenomenal talents of improvisers Theirry Madiot, Yves Robert, and Didier Petit had he had more time. The B-side, "Aux Noctambules," is a drone-based composition featuring Grubbs on a plastic reed organ with discreet contributions from Rectangle house guitarist Noël Akchoté. "The Coxcomb" sets salient extracts from the original Crane over a recurring melodic and harmonic refrain and resists the temptation to explode into violence -- unlike the protagonist in the story. Grubbs' admiration for Mayo Thompson and the Red Krayola aesthetic that "any text can go with any music" is reflected both in his word setting and in his choice of the Red Krayola's Stephen Prina as the narrator. Another mentor, Tony Conrad, comes to mind when listening to "Aux Noctambules," though instead of his gritty violin, there is instead the unnerving (and occasionally pitch-unstable) reed organ. Akchoté's normally ebullient guitar is confined here to sketching in the harmonic background, curiously recalling John McLaughlin's delicate arpeggios on Miles Davis' In a Silent Way. (Dan Warburton, All Music Guide)

Note : Songs written by Glenn Danzig (the Misfits).
Experimental cover albums generally tend to disappoint. Usually an artist’s motives for interpretation are sound, yet the final product is rarely impressive, often belittling the original work. Mark Kozelek (Red House Painters, Sun Kil Moon), known for his “interpretive covers,” has reconstructed a myriad of works ranging from Francis Scott Key’s “The Star Spangled Banner,” to various AC/DC tracks, to an entire collection of Modest Mouse songs (Sun Kil Moon – Tiny Cities). The problem with Kozelek’s covers, as with others who compose hyper-experimental covers, is that frankly, no one really cares. All he really did (and this is no knock on Kozelek’s earlier work like Down Colorful Hill, just his questionable later years) was write a completely unrelated song with his own trademark musical style. Then instead of writing lyrics that could tie a noose around any listener’s neck, he used the author’s original ones…obviously.
Unlike Kozelek’s frequent use of “poetic license,” David Pajo’s relatively unknown, vinyl only release, Scream With Me, finds a tolerable balance between interpretation and reiteration. As you’ve probably guessed, the record takes a rather sobering look at a collection of songs from the original Kings of the Underworld, The Misfits.
Pajo is probably the most important guitarist since the late 80s, and even though this record doesn’t really add to his impressive resumé (Slint – Spiderland & Tweez, Tortoise – Millions Now Living Will Never Die & TNT, Royal Trux – 3 Song EP), it does serve as an intriguing work.
Anyways, if you the thought 3-chord punk couldn’t be simplified any further, then you’ve been misled. Pajo takes punk’s musical manifesto and turns it into very simple lo-fi acoustic jams. Pajo follows the chordal tonality of each song, then turning the power chords into natural chords more suitable for the tenderness of plucking and finger picking. Pajo’s feeble vocals could bother some, but they are pleasantly human.
You’re not going to find a whole lot of progressive jazz riffs, piercing harmonics, spastic time signatures or anything else that made Pajo a Louisville legend, but there is a great way to enjoy this album: build a camp fire deep within your local wilderness destination, crack open a few cold ones and indulge in one of the most epic sing-a-longs courtesy of Pajo.

01. This Train
02. Right Down to You
03. I Die
04. Swing with Me
05. Angel Star
06. Friday Night Fly
07. Down By Babylon
08. Real Love
09. Bird of Flames
10. Polish Poem
11. The Truth Is

Note : Produced by David Lynch, recorded at Asymmetrical Studio, Hollywood.
David Lynch, lord and master of strange cinema and curious futurisms, has found a dark new voice to mold and craft for the early 21st century. This wouldn't be the first time he's taken a direct role in shaping sonic identities as a producer either: some of you might be aware of one of his earlier musical collaborators from his time in and around Twin Peaks, the sumptuous queen of space pop Julee Cruise and her fantastic debut outing Floating Into The Night from 1990.
Miss Bell here, however is an entirely different animal than most dream poppers, though not unlike Cruise as far as pace goes. She's skittery, tense, arresting as hell vocally and an intriguing complementary to the musical angles of dubstep and the dread heralding of early 90's Nick Cave. And when it works, it'll knock your friggin' face off: tracks like 'Bird Of Flames', for example, sounds like something Scott Walker locked up in his garage for a few decades before handing off the mix to Burial.
All in all, this is a gorgeous debut effort that evokes plenty of positive comparison with past post-punk and dream pop icons without sounding like any particular one of them, and feels refreshing as hell compared to a lot of what gets touted around on the singer-songwriter front these days.

Note : There is really nothing with which to compare the music of Orienta. One might say it resembles the dreams of an imaginative person who has fallen asleep during a "Dr. Fu Manchu" movie on television. For these incomparable musical vignettes combine the sounds of the East with the wit of the West; the charm of the Orient with the humor of the Occident. They are the adventures of a sensitive traveler who wears glasses which are slightly out-of-focus and who is irrepressibly irreverent of Asiatic saws and clichés.
But most important: these impressions are excellent music and hi-fi Fun with a capital "F"! Here are sounds and effects to gladden the tweeters and woofers of the most critical hi-fi addict, coupled with interesting melodies, exciting rhythms and adventurous harmonies. (Liner notes)

Note : Fresh folksy fusioneering from Battered Ornaments, the boutique imprint belonging to Finders Keepers' Doug Shipton. Laura J Martin hails from Liverpool and has a truly enchanting voice, showcased in two very different lights here. The first is a classically cinematic themed production by The Simonsound, aka DJ Format and Simon James, full of tight, tumbling breaks, analogue synth marks and proggy flute. The second, 'In Your Bones' is a quiet, hauntingly pastoral piece of magic, placing Laura's supernatural voice against a backdrop of soft guitar, xylophone and subtle electronics. (Boomkat)

Note : CD reissue with the same catalog number and additional bonus tracks.
Shrimper has reissued James McNew's self-produced cassette tape of Prince covers and added five additional songs. Featuring a title gleamed from the Black Album track "Bob George" ("Who?/Prince?/Ain't that a bitch?/That skinny motherf*cker with the high voice?"), this album demonstrates McNew's creative and varied approach to both famous and lesser-known songs. "1999" features his understated vocals and Stereolab's Morgane Lhote on Farfisa, "When U Were Mine" features McNew's low-register vocals and his own glistening keyboards, "Pop Life" features him harmonizing off-key with his multi-tracked self, "Dirty Mind" features his ominously echoed vocals, and "The Beautiful Ones" features his attempt to emulate Prince's own vocal style, including a switch to falsetto. McNew tries to transform "Erotic City" into a swaggering indie rock number, but doesn't quite pull it off; his vocals don't quite mesh with the musical backing on "Girls + Boys" and his whispered, portentous interpretation of "A Love Bizarre" is interesting at first but lasts too long. He fares better with an acoustic performance of "How Come You Don't Call Me Anymore?" (originally the B-side of Prince's "1999") and a rendition of "An Honest Man" that is somewhat reminiscent of Neil Young and Lambchop. "Raspberry Beret" is propelled by handclaps and reverb-laden guitar to be one of the better tracks on the album; McNew even changes "She wasn't too bright" to "I think she knew that I wasn't too bright," although he keeps the most dubious part of the lyrics ("Built like she was/She had the nerve to ask me/If I planned to do her any harm"). The album's concluding track, "Another Lonely Christmas," provides further evidence that McNew is adept at finding the emotional core of Prince's songs; McNew isn't as good a performer as Prince, of course, but he does find ways to make listeners hear some of the news in new and compelling ways. So while this album isn't flawless, it is definitely more than just a recycling of someone else's songs. (All Music Guide)

Note : Recorded and mixed by Michael Coleman at Orangewood Studio, Mesa, Arizona, March 2011.

Ce qu'en dit le label :
Harold Budd is a one of a kind modern neo-classical artist creating high-callibre and complex music with unique and subtle tension and abstraction, and simultaneous almost-pastoral but as-often otherworldly mood. Within the first three notes of a Budd composition, with trademark fresh-as-improvisation sound, whether deep dark or bright light, the listener is transcended to an enlightened state within the balance of empty space, sometimes wistful nostalgia, frequent idealism and always persistent love and beauty.
In The Mist is the artist purely distilled. It is the music of Harold Budd at its most raw, emotive and minimalist. In addition, Harold is writing for string quartet. In The Mist is comprised of three distinct movements. Tracks 1-5, The Whispers, are minimalist, tonal, sometimes tone-bending piano compositions. Tracks 6-8, The Gun Fighters, are more dramatic piano compositions with sparse electronic effects and percussive elements. Tracks 9-13, Shadows, are new Harold Budd string quartets, which add an additional component of interest - minimal, abstract, moody compositions.